We have a winner

I'm pleased to announce that my very dear friend Amy, who lives in Missouri, has named the lions, who live in my back yard. For this, Amy should keep an eye on her mailbox, because very soon she will receive a "rockin lion guitar pick pendant," which I just purchased off Etsy. Etsy is a cool site my friend Robyn turned me on to, and it's full of lovely handmade things. I picked this trinket for Amy because she plays guitar and she named my lions. I TOLD YOU THE PRIZE WOULD BE APPROPRIATE! Do you know how rare a "rockin lion guitar pick pendant is"? You wear that baby proudly, Amy! And thanks for naming my lions.

I'll let Amy tell you her idea in her own words:

"I think you should name your two lions after Gog and Magog, the porcelain dogs on either side of the hearth in the "Anne of Green Gables" series.They always stuck in my mind for some reason, and I thought, "Maybe someday I'll have a Gog and Magog of some sort." Your lions are perfect. (Of course, there is actually some fairly frightening imagery regarding a Gog and Magog in the Bible, but as far as I can tell, no one has really been able to tell what it means!) In case this does not ring a bell, here's the reference from the book (yes, I'm a huge nerd!):"

From "Anne of the Island," chapter 10, "Patty's Place":

The girls rang rather timidly, and were admitted by a grim and ancient handmaiden. The door opened directly into a large living-room, where by a cheery little fire sat two other ladies, both of whom were also grim and ancient. Except that one looked to be about seventy and the other fifty, there seemed little difference between them. Each had amazingly big, light-blue eyes behind steel-rimmed spectacles; each wore a cap and a gray shawl; each was knitting without haste and without rest; each rocked placidly and looked at the girls without speaking; and just behind each sat a large white china dog, with round green spots all over it, a green nose and green ears. Those dogs captured Anne's fancy on the spot; they seemed like the twin guardian deities of Patty's Place.

(The girls agree to rent the house while the ladies go abroad)

"Will you leave the china dogs?" asked Anne timidly.
"Would you like me to?"
"Oh, indeed, yes. They are delightful."
A pleased expression came into Miss Patty's face.
"I think a great deal of those dogs," she said proudly. "They are over a hundred years old, and they have sat on either side of this fireplace ever since my brother Aaron brought them from London fifty years ago."

"I shall leave the dogs where they are, if you will promise to be very careful of them," she said. "Their names are Gog and Magog. Gog looks to the right and Magog to the left."

So named are my lions. Now, a couple of updates on my other mystery, the snail-shell thing in our laundry room. First of all, my husband points out that it is not a snail at all, but rather a "mollusk with a pretentious name," otherwise known as a "chambered nautilus." Does that help? No. But it's good trivia. Also, that photo I posted might make the little panel seem bigger than it really is. It's about the size of my hand, or even smaller. It is very firmly attached to the wall, and that space between the front of the panel and the back isn't very big at all. You can't push anything, swivel anything, or move any part of it. But it's not exactly, you know, cute. So it definitely seems like it has an actual purpose, as opposed to being decorative. What the hell is this thing?!